Pragmatic by Dale but he still holds all the cards as owner of the sites. As usual he will plan for the long term

What saddens me is how our Council has failed to take advantage of a huge high quality employment opportunity for the town. Future generations will be the losers if recession hits post Brexit UK and they will point the finger of blame at Ebley Mill.

Simply, if at all possible, we have to foster good locally based employers like Ecotricity and Renishaw or risk losing them to depressed regions offering sites and grants incentives. Meantime, the local plans identified employment sites will progress no further than they have for decades.

Chrisgump11 wrote:Pragmatic by Dale but he still holds all the cards as owner of the sites. As usual he will plan for the long term

What saddens me is how our Council has failed to take advantage of a huge high quality employment opportunity for the town. Future generations will be the losers if recession hits post Brexit UK and they will point the finger of blame at Ebley Mill.

Simply, if at all possible, we have to foster good locally based employers like Ecotricity and Renishaw or risk losing them to depressed regions offering sites and grants incentives. Meantime, the local plans identified employment sites will progress no further than they have for decades.

Your council has probably been following the planning rules; they'd be silly not to. There are known and agreed ways of doing things.

Just because someone says that they will provide loads of employment opportunities doesn't mean:a) that they willb) that it is right in the context of the development plan agreedc) that they should be allowed to

Simply, so far as the Eco park is concerned, the Council argues that it has enough employment sites for its local plan period. However, they are the same ones they've been relying on for decades that are unserviced and still mostly devoid of use. Which is why so many appeals are won by spec developers.

Otherwise, it does not have the resources to investigate such a complex application so has to use an army of consultants and while it does so, time is ebbing away. However, the Council's officers have made it known that they are likely to oppose as it will stand up for its approved local plan. Hence Dale's pragmatism.

The north site is the simpler of the 2 and avoids the issue with William Morris House and the Eastington objectors. Also, something like a Sports Stadium is a 'one-off' that a Local Plan cannot anticipate, hence is able to consider on an 'as and when' basis. That explains the proposed switch

I do not expect any Council to agree that 'might is right'. But when a local employer with a track record like Ecotricity's promotes something genuinely ground breaking on your doorstep, then we have to exercise some imagination on behalf of our town and future generations. If the south site is dropped for the time being, the opportunity to establish a park and restored canal is lost with it.

So my opinion is that the loss of the overall project is a huge missed opportunity. Others may disagree.

Forest Green should play in Forest Green imo. It is where the club was founded and it's an immense achievement that it has been able to get this far staying where it is.

Look at how many Barnet fans still wish they could go back and play in Barnet, how long Wimbledon have fought to go home etc. FGR are lucky, we have a great stadium which the club owns situated in the place it derives it name from.

For me, to leave and play at a motorway junction would take away so much of the clubs identity, that it would feel like pretty much a different club. Is it really worth it?

One thing is for sure. Once FGR leaves Forest Green/Nailsworth it will never come back.

Kentstripe wrote:Forest Green should play in Forest Green imo. It is where the club was founded and it's an immense achievement that it has been able to get this far staying where it is.

Look at how many Barnet fans still wish they could go back and play in Barnet, how long Wimbledon have fought to go home etc. FGR are lucky, we have a great stadium which the club owns situated in the place it derives it name from.

For me, to leave and play at a motorway junction would take away so much of the clubs identity, that it would feel like pretty much a different club. Is it really worth it?

One thing is for sure. Once FGR leaves Forest Green/Nailsworth it will never come back.

It will definitely feel a different club, especially with squad turnover these days. You could turn up to a new stadium and see pretty much a new XI.

I assume the club have done some market analysis into who will move to the new stadium and who won't. It could be Shortwoods blessing from a few I've heard from.

Torn btw moving and staying, as a Nailsworth born and bred supporter. Moving by jc13 would help with recruitment but will it feel soulless? Stroud council have scored an own goal, no canal finished, no jobs created, no road improvements, DV must be very wounded at the moment and tempted to walk away. Personally think for now, work on current stadium.

Put cover on standing terrace, work on parking options, carry on good ambassador schemes, grow fan- base. Think we are prob at least 5 yrs off a move, oh yeah and stop banning youngsters who get behind the team.

For me it should move if the club wants to grow, it can't at FG there's just no where else to park when we have a big game with over 2500 I feel sorry for the locals who can't get in or out of there homes. Another reason all the facilities for all the youth set up and the ladies all on one site.

Why no canal finished? Its just about to have phase 1b submitted to the Heritage lottery fund and SDC have approved a £3m investment into it. Just because DV has decided not to alter nice green pastureland with ummm nice green buildings isnt the end of the canal plans,

And yes keep FGR where it is. The last thing we need just now is a distraction like J13 in a relegation fight, besides if we go down then really surely any justification for J13 is gone.

I don't wish to sound condescending to anyone with an opinion but here goes.

Planning applications can be a nightmare for a variety of reasons. Stroud DC is no different in size to managing the Eco Park application than any others. They oversee all relevant requirements, which involves many stakeholders and those who have to be consulted.

Having had first hand experience of FGR and GCAFC applications (and asked about others in the game) the first thing is the size of course, as this will mean it takes longer because more people have to be involved. And whether anyone likes it or not others are also demanding time for their own applications to be dealt with quickly too.

The original Eco Park development was VERY BIG and when I was working on the current site we thought at the time it was BIG then but this new site dwarfs it, I can tell you too The New Lawn move encompassed loads of other matters which were not all about the simplicity of moving from one location to the other. Highways were a major hurdle to overcome and I spent many hours talking with County over the boxes we had to tick. It is not just the impact on a Matchday to be considered, if the site is used outside those few days. I can therefore understand why just that one aspect has raised concerns and we had to employ our own consultants who specialise in such matters to ensure we got it right.

I look back on the move up Spring Hill with great memories of how we achieved it in as little as 3 years. It was not easy. No one fell over to make it easy but we had a plan. I opened the original meeting in Nailsworth Town Hall in October 2002 to a selected stakeholder meeting. My opening visual had three things written on it and they remained as the sole bullet points we always came back to, especially when anything became a challenge to any of those involved.

1. We have a window of opportunity for the club and community. Fail to grasp that opportunity now and it will be lost.2. We need to work together to achieve everything we wish for all. Everyone must benefit and to this end nothing will be said in public which denegrates any of us. The press will only be used for good PR. Politics will never come into this for any purpose at all.3. The Football Club will never leave its home until the new stadium is ready to move into. This will then ensure all the remaining sectors of connected work are completed too. Such benefits all of us as one team.

Many will be unaware that in 2000 I was tasked with a two year mandate by the then Board of Directors to bring forth a suitable site to move the club to, to ensure it could meet its long term ambitions, I sat down with the three local councils separately and jointly and discussed all options. The Eastington area was one but clearly advised that this would be fraught with danger for a number of reasons, which included local opposition of losing green open space, highway considerations and also the vexed question of land for housing, with a major builder have options on land around to build upon. Many may recall back then this created many heated arguments which ended with the Hunts Grove development getting the green light further along. I do not believe this has been fully resolved.

As the Eco Park site does not affect me personally and I have no longer any remit with the club I cannot comment further on where or why the change in the projected plan is necessary and the move from Soith to North of the A419 for the actual stadium. But I reiterate size does matter and this I suspected would be a major hurdle to overcome. The complexities would no doubt be massive. Downsizing as Gloucester City FC have had to do from the original plans is certainly a pragmatic move.

FGR like any other club can only set out its policy and strategy for the future, as any business will need to do.

The old club (paraphrasing there only) did exactly the same thing. It took a decision and moved the club forward. It worked to complete the move in a time frame to meet all that needed to be met. Dale and Ecotiricty have to make the same decisions and if they need readjustment from time to time, then so be it.

Whatever the outcome, it all needs balancing against all other business interests and Forest Green Rovers is not alone in this WHOLE planned relocation.

Yes some fans will be lost in any move to Junction 13 but fans have already been lost in what has happened over other issues since the club changed hands. None of us live forever. I am personally just proud that over 20 years I played my part as a custodian of the club to make it better during my life time.

The Game Within wrote:For me it should move if the club wants to grow, it can't at FG there's just no where else to park when we have a big game with over 2500 I feel sorry for the locals who can't get in or out of there homes. Another reason all the facilities for all the youth set up and the ladies all on one site.

I agree with this. The parking situation this season has been a nightmare. For the Swindon game, I parked near the old Lloyds Bank and walked up and back down, just because the traffic/parking situation is so horrendous up the hill.

My family and I caught the bus to the Yeovil game, but the bus that was supposed to take us home never turned up because it just couldn't get up the hill because of the congestion. We ended up walking down to Nailsworth and getting a very expensive taxi home.

I just can't see how the club can continue at it's current level or grow bigger with such awful access an parking facilities.

Forgive my ignorance but who owns the current stadium, is it the club or DV?I ask because i am trying to understand if FGR going to benefit financially from the move or is DV?I understand that there is a plan to develop eco-housing on the existing site, so for example if the club own the site and are paid for example £5 million for it, can DV then ask for the £5 million to be paid to him to repay the loans he has made to the club to fund the last few years?

Yes, the club currently own the land and the stadium. Ecotricity would own the new stadium and rent it to us. That way, FGR would have no assets and Ecotricity can be shareholders in a football club that no longer makes a huge loss. Basically it's their way of getting out without losing money, because if they pulled out now, we would go bankrupt and they wouldn't get the money that they've ploughed in.

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